How To Change Trackball, LCD or Faceplate For Blackberry Tour 9630-Video

“My battery is dead….again”. We hear this so often. This is clearly something we want to avoid. So how can we get the maximum of our battery life?

All recent Blackberry phone use a Lithium Ion Battery (“Li-ion”). I’d like to share with you some good tips about getting the most out of your battery.

First thing to keep in mind is that if you are a new Blackberry user you are probably getting to know your blackberry very intimately the first few days. There will probably be lots of playing, checking out, and getting to know your new phone. So if your battery is running out quickly the first couple of days, it won’t be like this for long it’s probably just the initial excitement. So give yourself a week or so to get into normal practice.

Keep in mind that when you first get your battery you should charge it to 100%. If it says fully charged than it is, there is no need to leave it charging more than that; there is NO 110%. Recently though, most batteries will come fully charged out of the box.

Something good to always have around is a wall outlet at work, and a car charger. It’s a good idea to have these items handy and keep charging your battery for 10-15 minutes here and there throughout the day.

Don’t let your battery be drained everyday where you feel that it’s about to “die”. This can actually cause problems to your battery. So your best bet is to give it a bunch of little 10 minute boosts throughout the day.

So what causes most battery drains besides heavy usage?

For one, if you are in a “hard to find service area” where your blackberry is constantly looking for signals, your battery will be drained. My suggestion is that anywhere that there is low coverage and you don’t want your battery drained, you should turn off the “radio” on the home screen or the data signal (options-Mobile Networks- Data Services = OFF)

Make sure to check all applications running on your phone. You want to make sure that your browser is not on an active page. Remember that apps like Google Maps and all streaming audio apps are huge battery drainers. If you press the Menu Key and choose Switch Applications you will be able to see which apps are running in the background. There are usually a good handful that are always running. Feel free to turn some off if you are in severe circumstances.

Don’t forget to turn off your Bluetooth if you are not using it. Log off Aim, Google talk, and Jive Talk if you are not using them. You may also turn down your backlight. You will be very surprised at how such a minimal barely unnoticeable change can help.

If you have a sleeper- magnet enabled holster than please use it. It simply puts the Blackberry to sleep, and saves the battery.

I would also recommend getting an extended life battery or just an extra battery to have with a battery charger, that charge your battery separately.

Last but not least remember that if your battery just stops working, it just may be time for a new one. Batteries usually last an average of 2 years.

6 Tips On Setting Up Your BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220, 8230

BlackBerry Pearl Flip is different and has many unique features as compared to other BlackBerry models. BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220/ 8230 has the most compact design, flip style and one more external display which none of the other BlackBerry models have. Other worth noting features are 128MB flash memory, built in Wi-Fi, SureType keyboard and UMA compatibility. Check out some of the tips on setting up BlackBerry Pearl Flip and get more out of it.

External Notification

This is the only BlackBerry which has external display wide 128×160 pixels which can be used in many ways which suits your requirement. When the flip is closed it shows everything you have on your home screen except application icons, which includes background picture, network status, network strength, battery, date & time, alarm and unread message notifications. Some of these items may differ if you are using custom theme.

You can change the external notifications by pressing Menu button– select Options and select External Notifications.

External Display

You can change the clock face you see on your external display to Analog, Digital, Flip Clock or LCD Digital. Access this setting from Menu – Clock – Options.

SureType/ MultiTap Typing Mode

BlackBerry Pearl has SureType and MultiTap typing mode. For the first time BlackBerry Pearl user, SureType may not be convenient, but after 2-3 days of using it, you can type a lot faster. The tip to learn SureType typing is not to look at screen while you are typing initially. Just look at the keyboard and BlackBerry will get the correct words by itself and gradually it will learn the words you are typing more frequently.

To change the typing mode, when even you are in any typing mode, just press the Menu button and you will see an option to Enable SureType/ MultiTap.

Language Input Options

With the SureType keyboard, BlackBerry can learn the words from your contacts or emails and show you as predictive input to provide you better typing speed. Once you are used to SureType keyboard, it is a lot faster to type on it as compared to MultiTap.

You can change the Input Options by pressing Menu button– select Options – Language – Input Options.

Mobile Network Options

With many wireless carriers, the BlackBerry Pearl 8220/ 8230 is supported as UMA device, which will allow you to make/ receive calls through your Wi-Fi and allows you to save on your air-time minutes and long distance charges. For this you need to subscribe to a particular UMA feature on your account which is provided by your wireless carrier. If you do not have any such plan on your account keep the Connection Preference as “Mobile Network Preferred”

You can access/change this settings from Menu – Manage Connections – Mobile Network Options.

Auto Answer Calls

BlackBerry Pearl Flip does not have the holster the way you have with other BlackBerry models. You can change the options to auto answer calls when you open the flip or you can change it the way you want.

To change this setting – press the Green button (call log), press Menu button, select Options and select General Options.

Let us know in the comments, if you have any more tips to share or if you find any difficulty in setting up the above options.

via: www.blackberrytune.com

How to Upgrade Your BlackBerry Operating System

So you got a new BlackBerry or you are simply tired of your old operating system on the device and want to want to upgrade it? If you have never done this before, there are a few things you need to know. The first thing is that there are two different types of OS that you can install: one is the official OS, released by a carrier, and the other one is a leaked OS, meaning that it has not been approved by the carriers to be installed. You can install an official OS using Desktop Manager, but usually it will not let you install a leaked OS unless you do some tweaking. This is something RIM implemented with the latest updates to the Desktop Manager.

These instructions are for Windows users. For BES users, your IT needs to issue an activation code unless you can generate one yourself or have Desktop Manager set up with the BES option, it will do it the next time your run DM.

You should know that if you decide to install a leaked OS, you’re doing it at your own risk.

Always do a backup of your Settings and Contacts using Desktop Manager and 3rd-party apps. Use BBSAK, you will see me mention this app a few times.

Software that you will need to download:

• Desktop Manager – http://na.blackberry.com/eng/services/desktop/ at his link you can download for windows and Mac. What does Desktop Manager do, you may ask. It lets you load your OS to the BB, add applications, back up your data, custom settings and contacts, sync music, switch devices and more. When setting up DM, choose the option for personal account, not the one which associates it with your work email, unless you have access to changing settings on BES. BES is the BlackBerry Enterprise Server, which is mostly used by companies to deliver company emails and settings to your BlackBerry.
• BlackBerry Swish Army Knife (BBSAK): this application is for both novice and advanced users, but make sure you don’t go around clicking random buttons, you could really do some damage to the BlackBerry. With this application you can install or back up third-party applications, or launch the Application Loader to install your OS. You can read more about the features and find the download link in our previous post.

Remember to always back up your data before doing this. On DM, select Backup and Restore.

If you have a password on you BlackBerry, you will need to type that in before it lets you do anything.

Official OS install: To load an official OS, all you need is to download and install the Desktop Manager. It will detect the official OS if it is issued by your carrier. When you connect your BlackBerry via USB, it will prompt you to install the new OS. Simply follow the wizard and select the applications you want to install. Once this is done, you just have to click “Next” until the process is finished. Never unplug the BlackBerry while the device is upgrading. That would render it useless. If you do, there are ways to get it working again, but it’s troublesome.

Official OS from other Carriers and Leaked OS:

Why is DM not detecting the update after installing on PC? You can install the OS issue by other carriers or a leaked OS, but with the latest DM, RIM has blocked that feature. So even if you have installed the OS update, DM will not detect it. Sometimes, it will give you the option to install older versions of the OS.

Fixes:

• Delete the vendor.xml file found at this location on most Windows PC machines: C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Research In Motion\AppLoader
• A quick fix can be disconnecting your Internet so that DM is not communication with the Web. This will force DM to look for the update on your PC.
• If the above fix is not working, then you need to launch App Loader by itself. And you need to close DM completely because sometimes it will stay running in background and will prevent App Loader from detecting the update as well. You can find App Loader in the same location mentioned above.
• Another tool that will help you with OS installs is BBSAK. If you don’t feel like going through all the steps above, simply download this application. It has a quick, one-click way to launch the standalone App Loader. Make sure that your BlackBerry shows it is connected to BBSAK. If it does not show it is connected, that probably means that DM is still running is background and is preventing you from connecting to it, or vice-versa. Like I said before, this tool has many useful features, but it has some advanced features that could wipe your device completely. STAY AWAY from these features if you don’t know what they are or what you are doing.

Once you have launched the App Loader, it should detect the OS update. You then simply select the applications and features you wish to install and follow the wizard until you are done with the upgrade.

I NUKED MY BERRY: something went wrong with the upgrade. Simply follow the steps mentioned above if, for any reason, the App Loader is not detecting your BlackBerry. Take out the battery and connect the BlackBerry via USB. Launch App Loader and wait for it to detect the BlackBerry. Sometimes it will display your PIN or say the device is unknown. This will allow you to get to the step in which you choose what apps and settings you want to install on your BlackBerry. Carefully place the battery back in the BlackBerry without unplugging it from the USB port.

I don’t recommend doing any of this if you are not comfortable with the instructions. If you have other tips to share, please leave a comment. I did not write an in-depth explanation for every step to avoid writing an excessivel long article. Let us know if this one has helped you.